Nurses and other caregivers at hospitals, assisted living facilities, and other locations often care for patients that have limited or no mobility, many of whom are critically ill or injured. The caregivers of such patients can often encounter difficulties in positioning the patients in seated positions and/or maintaining the patients in seated positions, due to this decreased mobility. This can make the use of chairs (including traditional chairs, wheelchairs, and other seating apparatuses) difficult on both the patient and the caregiver. Patients with severely decreased mobility may need to be pushed or pulled backward in the chair to be seated in the proper position, which can cause strain on the caregiver. Additionally, patients with decreased mobility may tend to slide downward and forward in a chair after proper positioning, which can even pose challenges with patients having sufficient mobility to position themselves in the chair. Such sliding may also result in falls from excessive forward sliding and/or from patients trying to reposition themselves after sliding. Further, pressure ulcers can pose problems for patients spending significant time in seated and/or lying positions. Existing apparatuses and methods often do not provide adequate assistance in positioning a patient in a seated position and/or maintaining the patient in the seated position. Existing apparatuses and methods also often may not provide adequate protection against the risk of falls and pressure ulcers when decreased mobility patients are placed in chairs.
The present invention seeks to overcome certain of these limitations and other drawbacks of existing apparatuses, systems, and methods, and to provide new features not heretofore available.